Blur play first show in three years (From News Shopper)

Blur play first show in three years

8:15pm Tuesday 31st July 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013

Blur has reunited for their first proper show for three years with a gig in front of just 200 people.

The band have been preparing for a major comeback show in London's Hyde Park to coincide with the end of the Olympics in August.

Frontman Damon Albarn admitted: "When you've been away for a while it's quite nerve-racking."

The concert was being broadcast by BBC Radio 6 Music with the audience made up of listeners.

The group - who reformed for a series of shows in 2009 - played at the BBC's Maida Vale studios in London with a set of album tracks and new songs.

The show included opening track Jubilee, Trim Trabb and Intermission, along with newly written songs Under The Westway and The Puritan which were recently premiered online with a short rooftop performance.

The group were later performing a set of better-known songs for a Radio 2 show.

The band - who effectively split after touring with their 2003 album Think Tank - played more of a greatest hits package for their Radio 2 performance.

Songs included their number one single Beetlebum, Out Of Time, End Of A Century and The Universal.

The reunion - which continues with a low-key show in Margate, Kent, on Wednesday - coincides with the release of a boxset, Blur 21, of all the band's recordings which was out this week.